Up In Wine Country

Mr. Flip Flops

This past weekend was great.  We decided to take a much needed mini vacation and spend a night in Sonoma.  Although "vacations" are not always as restful as they used to be (we spend most of our  time chasing after a very fast  one-year old), we had a great time.

I left work early and we drove the 20-30 minutes up.  We checked in early and immediately went to the pool.  This being Jack's first real time in the big pool, Liz and I were very excited to see how he reacted.  Jack was very excited to be wearing his flip flops for the first time.  Whenever Liz is wearing hers he is always fascinated by them.

After a couple of introductory steps he was off and running.  He loved the pool and spent a good amount of time splashing around on the steps.  Liz had also bought him a floaty that he could sit in which he liked at first but grew tired of quickly.  The main problem with being in the floaty was that he wants to (and thinks he can) swim on his own.  He has no fear!  The best thing about the pool for Jack was the gate that surrounded the perimeter.  He was obsessed with it and spent most of his time there opening and closing it.  He also spent a great deal of time at the water cooler trying to fill a Dixie cup with water and drinking it.

That night we went to dinner at the Swiss Hotel which was not good.  Sonoma town square was packed and we were lucky to get in anywhere, but it may have been worth the wait somewhere else.  As always, Jack made plenty of friends in the restaurant and was extremely fascinated with the wait staff.

In the morning we went to the Black Bear Diner where Jack proceeded to kiss all of the wooden bears that were in and outside of the restaurant.  Jack is extremely affectionate and is giving a tremendous amount of hugs and kisses.  He has also mastered the ability to blow you a kiss.  He will do this often when he is leaving the room or even when he is going to bed.  It is adorable.

Kissing the Bears at the Black Bear Diner

After breakfast we went downtown again.  Jack had his second experience with ducks.  We took him to the town square where there is a duck pond.  It was early so all of the ducks were on shore and sleeping. Jack did not know what to think when he saw the first one and was a little scared of it.  After about 2 minutes of that he ran right into the pack and started "herding" the ducks on his own.  He loved it!

Feeding the Ducks

From there we went to Train Town.  This is a scale model railroad that fits about 40 people.  Jack was very tired at this point and was not really sure what was going on.  I think he enjoyed the ride and he definitely enjoyed the petting zoo and wild west style town that the train stopped at.  He also had the opportunity to ride his first merry-go-round.

Note the Ever Present Tongue

One Tired Kidlet on the Merry-Go-Round

After a nap we spent the rest of the day at the pool.  There was a wedding reception going on and Jack loved the jazz music that was being played.  He is at the point where he dances the second he hears music.  He has supersonic hearing for music, dogs, and trucks.

We packed up around 5 and headed home.

I wanted to include a picture of Liz too so that you could see the progress on #2!

Liz - 5.5 months